Austin Knight, senior UX (user experience) designer at HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales platform, will deliver the presentation. Knight is a professional speaker and author at HubSpot, focusing on web, mobile, software-as-a-service (SaaS) and virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).

“User experience” or “user interface” design encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with the company, its services and its products. It focuses on having a deep understanding of users, what they need, what they value, their abilities and their limitations. User experience design has the overarching goal of improving the quality of the user’s interaction with end perceptions of a company’s product or related services.

Knight’s lecture, "Lean UX in the Enterprise," will provide an in-depth look at HubSpot’s approach to UX design and take audience members through a real-world project.

“Lean UX is an important approach to interaction design as it is tailor-made for today’s web and mobile-driven reality. It takes a solution-focused approach to solving real-world problems. It promotes collaborative work where technology designers and business partners are brought together to develop the best solutions in an ongoing way,” said David Nemer, assistant professor in the school’s information communication technology program.

The lecture will cover how HubSpot, a public company with more than 1,600 employees across seven global offices, doubled its conversion rate on www.HubSpot.com, by leveraging a lean design process that is focused on rapid iteration and objectivity.

“Knight’s talk will be a great opportunity for people who are interested in working more effectively with their teams and wanting to understand the difference a great UX can make," Nemer said.

As a digital nomad, Knight works remotely and lives amongst different design communities throughout the world. He mentors students and startup founders at Columbia University in New York, co-hosts the UX and Growth Podcast in Boston, leads a study on South American design in Rio de Janeiro, and speaks at select international events every year. His talk at UK will introduce university and community members, developers, designers, marketers and learners to UX techniques and the design cycle.

“UX design is a field that is about finding ways to improve the products that people use every day, through research, development and communication with consumers and other designers,” said Jesse Stallsworth, director of the CI CoLab and graduate student in the information communication technology program. “Next time you have a good experience with using a product or technology, thank a UX designer.”

Space is limited. Please register via Eventbrite: https://leanuxlecture.eventbrite.com. This talk will be live streamed using Zoom, a video conferencing system. If you are unable to attend in-person and would like to participate virtually, please contact infosci@uky.edu.

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